Archos 101 XS 10-Inch Tablet: Lightning Review

Archos debuts a 10.1-inch tablet that includes a cover and keyboard with its $400 base price.

With the 101 XS tablet, French manufacturer Archos enters the tablet-with-keyboard market, competing for a spot at the top among a slew of hybrid devices. Its $399 price tag pits it against midrange Android devices such as the Asus Transformer Pad 300 and the Acer Iconia Tab A510. Though Archos is the underdog of the bunch, it shouldn't be overlooked; the top-tier brand has come up with a solid tablet that won't break the bank.

The Specs

The 101 XS is thin, lightweight, and seems stylish and sophisticated in white and gray—until you hold it. The combination of plastic, stainless steel, and aluminum looks like an attempt at what "special limited edition" is supposed to look like. Still, it's a major step up from last year's G9 series. And coming in at only 8-mm thick and weighing 600 grams, it beats the latest iPad by the smallest of margins.

On the tablet's left side you'll find micro-SD, micro-USB, and mini-HDMI ports, plus a 3.5-mm headphone jack. On the right you'll find the power button and a volume up/down rocker that's neatly recessed so you don't accidentally press it (a problem I had on the Archos G9). A mono speaker is integrated on the right front side of the display and the front camera is to the left, allowing for video chatting.

The real standout among the 101 XS's features is the protective cover Archos calls the Coverboard. When flipped it over, the magnetic cover doubles as a dock and keyboard. (Unlike the Asus keyboard dock, the Coverboard won't extend battery life.)

Now the so-so part: the screen. It's not Retina or IPS—just a generic 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800–resolution LCD, which presumably lets Archos keep the price down. This isn't necessarily a deal breaker; you'll still get a decent video quality. But you might have to turn the brightness all the way up (which taxes the battery), and, if you're picky about these kinds of things, tweak the overall color by downloading a free app called Screen Adjuster. The 101 XS's display is solid, but it's a shame Archos didn't spring for something HD.

Archos claims 7 hours of video playback using low-backlight settings. But that's at low light and the screen is dim to begin with. To put the battery to the test, I pushed the 101 XS to the extreme: brightness at maximum, Wi-Fi on while watching 720-pixel video (nonstreaming) plus a little bit of YouTube. I got 5-1/2 hours of use.


Under the hood, the 101 XS comes loaded with a dual-core 1.2-GHz OMAP 4470 CPU with PowerVR SGX544 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. While it may not be the fastest tablet, swiping around the desktop, launching apps, and gaming were fluid and smooth. Once the 101 XS gets upgraded to Jelly Bean, the newest version of the Android OS (which should happen before the end of the year), we should see a big performance boost.

To get a feel for the Archos, I started by playing Spider-Man and Dead Trigger for a couple of hours while commuting. Both ran great, with no slowdowns or freezing. The 101 XS's built-in media player features a nice UI that uses a rotating carousel to choose between movies or albums. It plays every video format I threw at it—avi, mkv, xvid—plus it has a simple streaming setup: A few taps, a couple of passwords, and it effortlessly streams video from the NAS server.

The Bottom Line

The chief selling point of the Archos is its price: You get a fast 10-inch tablet, with an included cover/keyboard/dock/stand, for $400. That gives the 101 XS the advantage over the Asus T300, whose keyboard is an extra $100. The major flaw in the Archos is its contrast and brightness during dark movies. But as long as you're indoors, this isn't a major issue, and it's certainly not enough to stop the Archos 101 XS from being a top contender for budget-minded tablet buyers.

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